Cold Oven Pound Cake – Do Not Preheat!

Have you ever made a cold oven pound cake? I hadn’t even heard of cold oven pound cake until my friend Donna suggested I give it a try. “It’s the best pound cake ever!” she exclaimed with such enthusiasm – immediately piquing my interest.

Cold oven pound cake is made using a typical pound cake recipe, but it’s baked for a longer time in a cooler oven that hasn’t been preheated.

Was it simply that Donna tasted a better than average pound cake recipe, or does baking cold oven pound cake really make a difference in the end result? I was determined to find out!

Is Cold Oven Pound Cake Better?

Using the exact same recipe, I baked half of my pound cake cupcakes in a preheated oven at 350 F for 25 minutes and the other half starting in a cold oven heating up to 275 F for 60 minutes. I then subjected my friends and family to blind taste tests (not that they minded).

EVERYONE liked the cold oven pound cake better! Some people went so far as to say that the cold oven ones were like a completely different dessert. The difference was in the texture. The cold oven pound cake was denser and had less of a crumb. It was what you would expect from pound cake. I’m not a food scientist (I can’t explain why this works), but I would suggest that you try this technique the next time you make a pound cake.

Cold Oven Pound Cake Recipe

The key ingredient in pound cake, of course, is BUTTER. Pound cake gets its name from the fact that the classic pound cake recipe contains a full pound of butter. For my cold oven pound cake (in cupcake form), I used butter compliments of Challenge Butter. Challenge Butter is not sold here in St. Louis, but it is available in other parts of the country. I figured that if they were going to send me butter, I needed to make something super buttery!

The cold oven pound cake recipe I used was from Annie Laurie on Bakespace. It was one stick shy of the traditional full pound of butter. Annie says that her mother was famous for it, and I can understand why. I am reprinting the recipe below with my notes and modifications to make cupcakes instead of a cake.

The Frosting

Flashback

This is not the first time that I have made pound cake cupcakes (although it’s a first for the cold oven variety). I made mini pound cake cupcakes to dip in chocolate fondue for Valentine’s Day. You might consider trying that same technique with this recipe for the holidays. If you make these as minis, simply bake for half the time.

Jim saidThese look so good!! I made some twinkies this week,and wanted something new,and I used a pound cake recipe,and everyone,thought they were real good!! I don’t know why,maybe fear of failing,but me and many others are not real great at the dipping thing.I got several pots,but after having some trouble,before,I sorta,move away,from it.I see recipes,and want to try,and keep the recipe,and really say “Later”!! Maybe this would be a great post for you Ladies,before Christmas,I know I’m not the only one,with this fear.Have a nice Christmas!!

So happy you posted on this!! This is true–I have always baked my pound cakes in a cold oven and they always turn out perfect! I thought it was a southern thing (where I grew up)…also when the “Charleston Cake Lady” published her cookbooks a few years back, she did the same. Everyone should try it–you won’t ever go back to preheating the oven! Thanks again for this post–your cupcakes look wonderful!

This is my first comment but I have been reading your blog for a few weeks and love it! I recently took an interest in cupcakes (I’m from Europe originally so it’s not really a huge thing over there) and have been experimenting a lot Thanks for the great and fun ideas!

I sure could have used this recipe when I was attempting to bake my grand daughter’s Strawberry Shortcake for her birthday visit. I burnt her requested pound cake recipe not once but twice. I had to resort to a box mix which everyone liked but I’m sure they were being polite. I am so BAD at baking!!!

Thanks for sharing, Stef. Perhaps someday I will try again just for the heck of it and to try this recipe as per your instructions!!!

Hi Stef- Thank you so much for sharing this. I love the blind taste tests…very interesting…I must try it soon! Oh and I should confess that I am a food scientist but I am not sure what the causes of the sensory preference are. Hmmm…maybe I need to do some serious research on this?! Awesome blog, thank you!

Nika – Sure! It would be a great loaf cake. The only change would be that it will take longer to cook. It might take up to 2 hours. I haven’t made it, so I can’t tell you for sure. Just check on it periodically.

I found you through Food Gawker or Tastespotting and am so glad I did! I baked these cupcakes tonight and they were the best I’ve ever tasted. The flavor reminded my husband and I of wedding cake…mmm!

I have some questions, however:

I used 24 cupcake molds and had way too much batter. I had never baked a pound cake before, so I thought perhaps that a cake (or cupcakes) like this just wouldn’t rise as much, so I filled the tins too high. The cupcakes got huge and bubbled over the side – it kind of looked like a big cookie sitting on top of the cake. What could I have done wrong that I produced so much batter when we both followed the same set of instructions and your batch resulted in 24 normal-sized cuppies?

Second! The “cookies” that formed on top of the tin were actually VERY tasty. They were kind of crisp and chewy and had the texture of an actual cookie. Is there any way to convert this recipe to bonafide cookies or am I just crazy?

Anon – I can’t say why yours made so many more. Sorry. I guess next time, just stick to filling them 3/4 full as make as many as you can make. As for your cookie question – I LOVED that question. So.. I tried it tonight! I baked tiny pound cake cookies on a cookies sheet. I did at at 350 F for 15 min. They aren’t the prettiest things, but they sure are yummy. Chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. I may even post about it. Thanks for asking.

I made the pound cuppies again, this morning, and still have left over batter! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I’m definitely a novice baker, so I am positive I’m doing SOMETHING wrong. Should the flour be sifted, then measured, or measured, then sifted? Would that make such a big difference? I’m guessing I have probably 36 cuppies, as opposed to 24. I don’t have enough tins to bake all of them at once, so I can’t be sure how many extra I have (first batch of 24 is in the oven).

I would love, love, love to read your experience about the pound cookies! Man, those crispy and chewy tops were so delicious last time I made these cuppies. I think my sister-in-law will be a little disappointed, actually, that I tried to ensure not to overfill these tins this time.

And, as far as filling the tins – do you just eyeball it, or use some scooper or what? I try to use a measuring cup – about 1/3 of a cup, but there is no way all of that batter gets in the tin or it would overflow, I think. Is there a more precise way of doing it? Pardon me if you’ve already addressed this on your site!

Thanks for your feedback and help!! Yum, can’t wait to serve these today – we’re having Father’s Day today since I’ll be travelling tomorrow. I hope my father-in-law enjoys them!

Beth – Here is my post on the cookies. http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2010/06/cupcake-poop.html. As for the rest of your question. I just eyeball it and I actually skipped the sifting (wonder if that made a difference). But, I could have simply written the wrong number. Perhaps someone else will make it and tell us how many they get.

Hey there, I am currently baking the COLD pound cake cupcakes and using the leftover dough for the poops. I cut the recipe in half because there weren’t going to be many of us enjoying them. Anyways, after cutting the recipe in half and filling them 3/4 of the way it make 24 cupcakes. The batter is wonderful and I am sure the cupcakes will be too. I thought I would report back since I had an opportunity to make them after you posted about how many a batch made. Thanks for the wonderful recipes!

I may be totally nuts, but whenever I cut this recipe in half, the cupcakes seem to taste better. I am probably nuts, but whatever.

Despite buying an oven thermometer and using it, these specific cupcakes sink in the middle. It is so mystifying – they rise and then sink in the middle, forming a crispy crust on the top, with a big pocket of air right under the crust. Sometimes, the crust opens, and you can see the little cupcakes about half of an inch or an inch so down. The middle doesn’t seem completely done, but the whole thing tastes wonderful – from the almost done cupcake, to the cracked crispy crust on top, to the cupcake cookies that are formed when the batter overflows (although, they don’t overflow much anymore since I’ve learned how much matter goes in the cups after making these so many times). Taste great, look terrible. Hard to frost because of the cracked open pockets on the top.

My husband actually prefers the taste of the cupcakes without the frosting, because the cupcake is so rich and delicious that any frosting I’ve ever used has overpowered the cake or made the whole thing beyond rich. That includes one of the frostings linked – my favorite frosting, in fact – from the Pioneer Woman. I think I will try the whipped cream frosting at some point – I love whipped cream frosting, and strawberry whipped frosting sounds like it could be just perfect. I had almond cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting for my wedding, so I imagine that would be reminiscent of it (cream cheese frosting may be too rich on this cake, though (?), so as I said, I’ll try the whipped).

ANYWAY, sorry for all of these posts, but I am basically obsessed with these cupcakes. And if anyone has any hints on how to make them purdy like that the photos on this page, please let me know. For now, I’ll continue to eat ugly cupcakes, but I would really like to know what I am doing wrong!

I tried this recipe, and I have no clue what I did wrong, i baked them at 275 for 60 min and ended up with a cupcake that looked like a hockey puck! The edges of the cupcake tins had a crust on them so I am assuming that they rose then fell. HELP!

Anon – One thing that I am wondering about is if the size of the eggs is causing the problem for those of you who are having a consistency problem. I neglected to state it in the recipe, but I use large eggs. Were you using extra large?

i have my cupcakes in the oven now. they are baking perfectly, with only 8 minutes left! i’m wondering if those who had issues with the baking process made sure their rack was in the middle position of the oven, as instructed. i think this makes a difference. i also had a ton of batter, and so i put the extra in a little oval cake pan i had and popped it in my convection oven, cold, at 275, on the bottom rack. baked perfectly. i think it’s those pesky racks…sorry i don’t have a google account. i’m shana.

Being a Southerner, which means eating lots of homemade pound cake throughout one’s lifetime, the cold oven method is the ONLY way I know! I will use my Grandmother’s recipe, which isn’t too different from the one I read (she used some shortening in hers)and I will try them as cupcakes. They look gorgeous!

I also tried this recipe for a coworkers birthday. I made them exactly, and I do mean exactly, according to the posted recipe, even checking to make sure I was using large eggs. I made them the night before, intending to let them rest overnight before trying to ice with a storebought frosting. I also experienced the crisp/chewy cookie top, although I had not overfilled the cups. my cakes were slightly risen above the mold cup level, with a crisp cookie top umbrellaed over a thin flat pocket of air, over the baked cupcake mass. The cookie top (while delicious as crumbs) broke and shattered crumbs everywhere as I levered the cooled cupcakes out of the pan. I ended up gently scraping the cookie top off the rest of the cake part so that they were possible to ice. Other than that issue (which was a bit time consuming) the flavor was great, and once iced, noone noticed any difference from regularly topped cupcakes. Unless you have a suggestion for a fix to eliminate the cookie top, I doubt I will try again. Thank you though.. Worth an attept.

I made a half batch of these, but I didn’t have the problem of the cookie top. They came out like tiny pound cakes and were definitely tasty. I’ll make these again! Also, my half batch made about 15 cupcakes, so I guess if I made it as written I’d get about 30 out of it. I’d eat all of them if I could.

Great Idea! I’ve been making cold oven pound cakes for years and never thought to make cupcakes. To those concerned with the crunchy tops, that is a characteristic of cold oven pound cakes. Don’t cut it off, it’s the best part! I suggest shaking a little 10x sugar on top to pretty it up a bit.

My pound cake cuppies are in the oven I cut the recipe in 1/3 and it made 10 cupcakes, I might have filled them a little to full though… we’ll see.Just to clarify, there isn’t supposed to be any baking powder or soda in these? I know that some pound cake recipes do have that and some don’t, I was just wondering if that could have anything to do with they hockey pucks that some people got?thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to try these.

Not pretty at all but these are the best tasting pound cake cupcakes! I just came across this recipe and tried the cupcakes. I had the same problem mentioned previously with them shrinking into the middle. They were level with the top of the wrapper when I first took them out of the oven and then just sunk around the crusty part. They are really delicious.

I just made these both ways, cold oven and preheated oven. My cold oven ones came out with a nice chewy top to them, and my preheated oven ones came out with a very flaky, almost filo type top to them. They taste fantastic, but not sure why the tops came out funny. I can’t wait to post on my blog about what I’m doing with them!!!

I made these the other day and did not have any luck at all. I used almond milk in place of milk, but that was my only substitution and I followed the recipe to a t. I always substitute soy or almond milk in baking recipes and have never had a problem before. My cupcakes ended up coming out really weird and chewy and they had a film on top. Better luck next time, I suppose.

Hey, Ive been wanting to try this recipe for a while… it intrigued me :). Anyway, baked this morning, followed exact recipe, didnt want cupcakes tho, wanted to make a layer cake, figured i’d just have to bake longer. So i made half the recipe amount..and divided between 3 7inch tins, perfect amount for that btw!.. They are baked to perfection, with just the right amount of rise, no sinkage in the middle.. no dodgy crust lol… buuuuuut… they were ready after a mere 35 mins!!! Couldnt understand how on earth that was possible with such a cool oven temperature and from cold! Oh and i have an oven thermometer so i know the temperature was correct.Weird huh :/

Made the full recipe today without good results. I had to use 2 racks…after less than half the baking time, I smelled burning and, sure enough, the 24 cakes on the middle rack were burned. The ones on the top rack were not done yet so I moved them down to the middle rack for just a few more minutes before taking them out. The ones that burned still tasted okay on the inside but the sides and bottom were awful. Don’t know how they could have burned at such a low temp, without preheating and having 48 cupcakes in the oven! The ones that didn’t burn also didn’t rise AND totally stuck to the cupcake wrappers. Okay if they were just for the family but not to bring to a function like I had planned. Don’t know how it went so wrong! Any advice?-Winnie P. from MA

Just so’s you know – Annie Laurie was the mother (I’m one of the three daughters) who made the cake! We always called it “Annie Laurie’s Famous Cold Oven Pound Cake” because all the family and extended family and friends and “others” who got to taste it always raved about how wonderful it tasted!

Mom used to make up a couple, cut them in half and freeze, just to have something to give as a gift as needed. I would call her up and say, “Hi Mom, what’s up; what ya doin’?” She’d say, “Oh, I’m making pound cakes… ” which meant someone had a birthday or an anniversary or a new baby or got an award or was sick and needed cheering up… any excuse would do!

Now, my sisters Sarah & Laurie and I make the cake on occasion… and “religiously” follow Mom’s instructions!

Ok let me just start by saying I’m obsessed with your blog!! Every time I have a baking question and I take it to google, it directs me to one of your posts. Eventually I just stopped googling and started coming straight here, so thank you!

The only question I had was that I only have room for one 12 cup muffin tin in my oven. I read through all the comments and saw that one person cooked these in a preheated oven and got a phyllo-type crust on the top. Do you know if anyone else has tried cooking these in a warm oven?

In the event that I absolutely must stay away from a preheated oven when attempting these, what should I do with the rest of my batter after the first batch is done and the oven cools down? I was thinking just pop it in the fridge because most the ingredients are cold, but since the recipe calls for room temp butter I’m not sure they’d come out right. Thoughts?

Maybe the people having trouble are using a fan assisted oven? I find with my oven I need to bake anything on the convection setting and not the fan setting, otherwise things rise and bake too quickly, resulting in a crunchy or overbaked crust/topper – slow and no fan may be the way to go for these..

Hi! I absolutely love your blog. I found it earlier this year when I started to really get into cooking, particularly baking. When I’m looking for something I always come right to here first. :]

This was the first recipe that I had serious problems with. First off, I should mention that I normally cook cupcakes at 325 for 15-20 minutes (my oven cooks super fast) so I wasn’t sure how these would work. I definitely knew, though, that I could NOT cook them for a full hour.

My first problem was that they overflowed like no cupcakes I have ever made ever. I didn’t put any more batter than I usually do in the tins, but not only did they overflow, they overflowed into each other and even more so.

My second problem was that after they were done, they sank a little (I’m used to that, no big deal) but then I noticed that they all had air pockets, so much so that the outer “cookie rim” as some people called it literally came off. There were very few out of the 24 that I made that I was able to salvage. Probably not even 10.

My THIRD problem (this was the point where I just started screaming “REALLY?!” Haha) was that the wrappers literally fell off. The minute I pulled the cupcakes out of the tins, the wrappers just came off like they were nonstick or something. Standard white liners. I’ve had problems with wrappers sticking, but never with them just falling off.

The saddest part for me, though, was that they were DELICIOUS. Like I mean one of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever eaten. But I sell my cupcakes at places of business and there was no way I could sell those.

Sorry for the long comment, but I really need help with this one. Thanks for reading this. :]

My mom made cold oven cake for decades, and it was my requested birthday cake. She passed away two years ago, but I make her recipe frequently. It’s my dad’s favorite…mine too. I hope anyone who is a pound cake cake fan tries the cold oven version. It’s awesome in taste and crumb.

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